Here’s the schedule of events at the Wolfsonian in Miami Beach…
THE WOLFSONIAN-FIU PRESENTS “FREEDOM FRIDAYS”
What does “freedom” mean today? Join us for a series of engaging and thought-provoking events that explore the notion of freedom. Generously supported by the Knight New Work Award from the Funding Arts Network (FAN), in partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. All events are free.
Friday, September 19, 7pm
FREE TO SING OUT LOUD—Raise your voices and sing along with entertainer, songwriter, and music historian Rod MacDonald, in an evening of songs of protest and freedom. This vocal tour of American music travels our historic path of exercising our right to protest social injustice, unjust war, and the trampling of civil rights here and abroad. Co-presented by the Folk Club of South Florida.
CALENDAR
WOLF BOOK CLUB
Be a part of The Wolfsonian’s book club! We explore literary works whose subjects are relevant to current exhibitions and collection themes. Participants are expected to have read the selection in its entirety prior to the discussion. To join or to RSVP: 305.535.2644 or education@thewolf.fiu.edu. Free.
Friday, September 5, 7pm
TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell (1932)—Highly controversial in its time, Caldwell’s tale of violence and sex in the rural American South tells of Georgia sharecropper Jeeter Lester and his family during the bleak economic conditions of the Depression. This novel is often credited as one of the best examples of literary naturalism in modern American fiction.
MEMBER EVENT
Tuesday September 9, 11am
CURATOR’S TOUR AND LUNCH—Join associate director for curatorial affairs and education Marianne Lamonaca and art director Tim Hossler for a tour of Thoughts on Democracy, followed by lunch in The Dynamo Café. Tour at 11am, lunch at 12pm. RSVP required: 305.535.2631 or rsvp@thewolf.fiu.edu. $25 per person; Propagandist level members and higher.
THE WOLF PACK
The Wolf Pack is a group of young professionals with a ravenous appetite for architecture and design. Members gather regularly to interact with Wolfsonian curators and other leaders in Miami’s design and architecture communities for enlightening discussions and exceptional feasts. Join us for our monthly DEN NIGHTS, the second Thursday of the month, and for frequent excursions into Miami’s outstanding design community. For more information, contact 305. 535.2631 or thea@thewolf.fiu.edu.
Thursday September 11, 7pm
WOLF PACK DEN NIGHT—Game Night
Enjoy tapas, two-for-one drink specials, and all your favorite board games.
CINEMA 2 AT THE WOLF
is an ongoing documentary film series presented in collaboration with WPBT-Channel 2. Free.
Friday, September 12, 7pm
DOCUMENTING THE FACE OF AMERICA (USA, Jeanine Isabel Butler, 2008, Color, DVD, 57 min)—This film, narrated by Julian Bond, celebrates the courage and vision of a small group of legendary photographers and artists working together in the 1930s and ’40s who introduced America to Americans through their work. Among those featured are Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Gordon Parks, Marion Post Wolcott, Russell Lee, and others who worked with the U.S. Government under the unorthodox leadership of Roy Stryker and the Farm Service Administration from 1935 to 1943.
Wednesday, September 24
POCHOIR EXHIBIT ON VIEW IN NEW YORK—The Wolfsonian exhibition Fashioning the Modern French Interior: Pochoir Portfolios in the 1920s travels to the New York School of Interior Design. Wolfsonian curator Sarah Schleuning will present a lecture on the topic at the exhibition opening, Wednesday, September 24. The exhibition is on view from September 25 through December 20, 2008. For more information, visit http://www.nysid.edu.
PUBLIC TALK
Thursday, September 25, 7pm
DESIGNED FOR THE PEOPLE—What impact did New Deal projects have on South Florida? Join us for a panel discussion among authors and editors of The New Deal in South Florida: Design, Policy, and Community Building, 1933-1940 (University Press of Florida, 2008), as they address how New Deal projects transformed the region’s cultural, political, and physical landscape. Speakers, all affiliated with FIU, include the book’s editors, John F. Stack, Jr., director, Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies and John A. Stuart, professor of Architecture. Also speaking are Marianne Lamonaca, The Wolfsonian’s associate director for curatorial affairs and education, and Ted Baker, retired associate professor and landscape architect. Book signing follows in The Dynamo Café. Free to members and FIU community; $10 all others.
TOURS
Each Thursday and Friday, 6pm
Consider how an array of historical, cultural, and political trends inspired design of the machine age with a guided exhibition tour each Thursday and Friday night at 6pm. Friday tours are free.
DON’T FORGET…FREE FRIDAYS AT THE WOLF
Free admission begins at 6pm. Join us for a guided tour at 6pm, and innovative programming at 7pm. Galleries remain open until 9pm.
ON VIEW
A BITTERSWEET DECADE: THE NEW DEAL IN AMERICA, 1933-43
ON VIEW JULY 5, 2008 THROUGH JANUARY 19, 2009
This exhibition, which commemorates the seventy-fifth anniversary of the New Deal, considers the impact of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s programs on American culture and explores how the government’s patronage of art, design, and architecture were integral parts of the larger project of the New Deal, which aimed to spur recovery from the Great Depression and change American society.
NEW DEAL AMERICANA
ON VIEW THROUGH NOVEMBER 11, 2008 IN THE MUSEUM’S RARE BOOK AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARY VESTIBULE
Much of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s interventionist efforts to address the country’s economic distress through the New Deal were controversial at the time. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition A Bittersweet Decade: The New Deal in America, 1933-43, this display of books, pamphlets, and ephemera from the library’s holdings explores ways in which the New Deal programs were packaged and promoted, as well as how some of Roosevelt’s critics presented arguments against the federally funded social programs.
THOUGHTS ON DEMOCRACY
ON VIEW JULY 5, 2008 THROUGH DECEMBER 7, 2008 IN THE MUSEUM’S LOBBY
Thoughts on Democracy is an initiative intended to foster an ongoing dialogue between The Wolfsonian’s graphic and propaganda arts collections and contemporary artists and designers. The museum invited sixty leading artists and designers to create a new graphic design inspired by Norman Rockwell’s
1943 “Four Freedoms” posters, a recent addition to the collection. Rockwell’s images, reproduced by the U.S. Office of War Information for mass dissemination, communicated FDR’s vision of “a world founded upon four essential human freedoms”—Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from
Want, and Freedom from Fear.
To contribute to the conversation on democracy, and to learn more about the project, visit http://www.thoughtsondemocracy.blogspot.com
ART AND DESIGN IN THE MODERN AGE: SELECTIONS FROM THE WOLFSONIAN COLLECTION
ONGOING
The Wolfsonian-FIU holds an astounding collection of modern objects—both the rare and the overlooked — from the 1885 to 1945 era, demonstrating the active role design plays in motivating actions, expressing ideas, creating desires, and shaping identities. Exhibition themes underscore designers’ responses to new materials and technologies, the role of graphic design as an instrument of political and commercial persuasion, and the nature of state-sponsored public art and architecture programs.
DYNAMO HIGHLIGHT
The Dynamo Café’s eclectic menu features a delicious array of soups, sandwiches, and salads, as well as a coffee bar and special dessert and tea menus. The museum shop is the destination for unique toys, jewelry, books, fashion, accessories and housewares.
DAZZLING DAILY LUNCH SPECIAL
Shop till you drop, then lunch at The Dynamo for $10 pp, plus tax and tip. Lunch special menu includes a Chef’s entrée of the day and iced tea.
THINKISM THURSDAYS
Energy Hours at The Dynamo take place from 5-7pm and include wine and bar food specials.
FREE FRIDAYS, 6-9 PM
Free admission begins at 6pm. Energy Hours at The Dynamo, 5-7pm. Wine and bar food specials. Exhibition tour at 6pm. Recharge your batteries for the weekend.
UPCOMING EVENT
PUBLIC TALK
Saturday, October 25, 1-5pm
THOUGHTS ON DEMOCRACY: MANAGING PERCEPTIONS THROUGH IMAGES AND WORDS—Propaganda can inspire and propaganda can deceive—truths made particularly relevant for Americans by the current heated election campaign. How can propaganda move a nation to positive action, and how does it distort perceptions? We’ve gathered experts in the field for a symposium that opens with a keynote presentation and continues with a forum on modern propaganda moderated by András Szántó, editor of the anthology What Orwell Didn’t Know: Propaganda and the New Face of American Politics (Public Affairs, 2007). Forum participants include political analysts Patricia Williams and Mark Danner and designers Paula Scher and James Victore. RSVP required: 305.535.2645 or rsvp@thewolf.fiu.edu. Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with additional support from Funding Arts Network, The Miami Herald, and The Standard Hotel. Event takes place at The Margulies Warehouse, 591 NW 27th Street, Wynwood. Free.
